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Tuesday, 29 July 2014

Blog Tour: Black Widow Witch by A J Locke

I received a copy of Black Widow Witch in exchange for my review.

After being caught having an affair with the Queen's favourite lover, Malachi is sent to the human world and cursed to rip to shreds any man that she gets attracted to. Up until this point it hasn't been a problem for her as she hasn't found anyone attractive enough, but now that her new Shadow Officer, Julian, turns up, she can't help but start to struggle with her condition for the first time. Worse than that, her friends and fellow cursed witches are being framed for murder, and Malachi knows that she could well be next. Looking into the murders leads her and Julian into a twisted web of plots and intrigue, all while Malachi struggles to let go of the past...

After finishing the book I can't help but acknowledge that it was a good ending, even if I do think that Malachi should have made the other choice. Though I do think that was one of the things that made it such a good ending, the bittersweetnesss of it for all of the characters involved.

There were so many twists and turns in this book that I couldn't stop turning the pages right from the word go, and that always really excites me in a book! Part of that was that the characters various motives were hidden and only discovered fully later in the book, though I thought that this worked in favour of the book.

I loved trying to solve the mystery of who was behind the attempts to frame Malachi and her friends, and trying to work out how that linked in with the rest of what was going on, though I will admit that I didn't manage to work it out, which is again something I really liked about the book!

I also liked the way that Malachi and Julian's relationship progressed. At first she was hostile towards him, but that gradually changed, particularly when it became clear that he really didn't judge Malachi by her curse, unlike the rest of the human population. I thought that the author caught the worse side of human nature well, suspicion and dislike for something that isn't like them. Unfortunately I do think that is how humans would react in this situation.

There was also a very detailed back story to Malachi, though it came out slowly as the book went on (and she often had to be snapped out of her memories by other characters) and I thought that worked well for revealing who Knave was and how she actually got cursed. The whole thing worked well.

I haven't read an Urban Fantasy in a while, and I'm glad that Black Widow Witch was the book that broke that, this was a really good read!

Title:
Black Widow Witch

Author:
A. J. Locke

Release
Date: 5/15/2014

Genre:
Urban Fantasy

A
deadly curse, a deadly assassin, and one shot to save everyone she
loves…

Malachi
Erami can’t fall in love. After she’s caught with Knave, the
witch Queen’s favorite lover, she’s cursed to savagely butcher
any man she falls for. Exiled to live among humans, Malachi runs a
bar that serves magic-laced drinks, but since her curse labels her
high risk, she’s also closely monitored. Julian Vira is her latest
babysitter, but he’s also the first man since Knave that she’s
been attracted to. Good-looking and nonjudgmental of her horrible
curse? Yeah, he’s hard to resist.

But
when Malachi finds a body behind her bar, she knows she’s in
trouble. If the Witches Control Council gets wind of it, she’ll be
accused of murder and sent to her death. And when her friends start
getting framed for murder, she realizes she’s not the only target.
Malachi and Julian dig into the evidence to clear her name, but the
closer they get to answers, the closer the curse comes to taking
over. So when Malachi uncovers a plot to kill the witch Queen, she
finds herself suddenly recruited into service, with the promise of
having her curse lifted and a reunion with Knave as well. But if she
fails, Knave will die. And she and Julian might not live long enough
to see that happen.

Excerpt:
Chapter
One

Today
was the anniversary of the worst day of my life, and I’d been
trying to forget about it by consuming a vast amount of booze. The
fact that I owned a bar greatly helped with that endeavor, and the
fact that I was drunk was an accomplishment, since witches weren’t
easily susceptible to alcohol. Humans were onto something with this
whole drinking-to-forget-one’s-crappy-life thing.

Behind
the bar, I poured a shot for an eager customer. Amaretto, Southern
Comfort peach liqueur, and sweet-and-sour mix went into the glass,
then I held my hand over the drink and let a stream of purple magic,
the same color as my eyes, flow into it. The drink glowed purple for
a few seconds, then I handed it to the customer, who drank it with no
hesitation. After slamming the glass down, he grabbed the tipsy woman
who’d been hanging on him and gave her a sloppy kiss, then led her
out of the bar. I smiled and shook my head. The magic I’d put into
the shot, aptly named Piece of Ass, would ensure they didn’t leave
the bedroom tonight.

Somewhere
in the room I heard riotous laughter, and above that the voice
eliciting that laughter. Xiune was having a good night for a change
and wasn’t holed up in my office. Though since she was just a head
inside a clear acrylic box, it was understandable that sometimes all
she wanted to do was hide.

“Malachi,
darling!” Xiune called. “Seven handsome young men have requested
the Challenge!” I smiled slyly. I loved administering the
Challenge.

“It’s
time for the Seven Deadly Sins Challenge!” I announced, filling up
eight shot glasses with vodka, one of which I downed. “Which sin
will it be and what will its victim do?” People shouted their
guesses while I sent tendrils of magic into the shots. My magic
sparked like tiny bolts of lightning, and like the shot I had just
made, the liquid briefly glowed purple. I focused on one of the
glasses and started whispering a spell, channeling the essence of one
of the seven deadly sins through my body. For a brief moment, my body
became flushed with a feeling of ravenous desire, then it flowed out
of me into the shot glass. I felt rather charged and wondered if this
had been the right sin to choose tonight. But hey, I was drunk, and I
kind of wanted to see someone suffer. Misery loves company right?

I
levitated the shot glasses onto a tray and sauntered over to the
table where Xiune was entertaining the men who thought they were up
for the Challenge. With her flawless complexion, golden eyes, and
vibrant red hair, Xiune didn’t need a body to be beautiful. I’d
known her when she had one though, and if she’d been sitting there
in all her glory, she’d have every man kneeling at her feet. Her
allure was only heightened by the fact that she was a bodiless beauty
who used her magic to float herself around in a box. The box wasn’t
necessary for Xiune to move around, but she felt safer inside it when
she was out in public. That way if a witch hater spat on her, she’d
have a shield. It also prevented those on the other end of the
spectrum, people who were fascinated by witches, from getting too
close. I set the shot glasses down and motioned for the men to stand
around the table. They looked like your typical college fare: unkempt
hair, sagging pants, and some sort of ironic or sports themed
T-shirt. High-fives and shit talking all around.

“Now
boys,” I said, leaning forward on my forearms, giving my cleavage
time to shine. “Are you sure you’re ready for this? One of you is
moments away from experiencing a sin you may or may not enjoy.”
They assured me they were man enough to handle any sin, and I smiled.
The fun thing about the Challenge was that everyone handled it
differently. One man caught with gluttony had run across the street
to McDonalds, spent over a hundred dollars on food, then sat on the
floor and gorged himself. A woman under the same gluttony spell had
tried to eat her friend’s purse.

“Let’s
hope it’s lust and let’s hope it’s me,” one of the men said,
winking at me. He stood a couple of inches over six feet, had brown
hair and a lanky physique. If he started spending time at the gym,
maybe his lame come-ons would give him more luck getting laid.

“Honey,
I would eat you up,” I said with a slow smile. Normally I would
never have said such a line, but all the alcohol I had consumed was
speaking for me. He probably had no idea how true those words were
though, because his smile never wavered. However, for a moment after
I spoke, I saw another face in place of his, and it cut through my
drunken haze like a knife. I gasped, and he must have thought that
was a sign he had a chance with me, because his smile became more
lascivious. Lucky for him, he did nothing for me.

“Malachi,
let’s get this show going.” Xiune slid her box over to nudge me,
and I shook my head and turned back to the waiting crowd.

“All
right, it’s about to go down!” I yelled. “For anyone who hasn’t
witnessed the Challenge before, I’ll explain how it works. One of
these shot glasses is infused with the essence of one of the seven
deadly sins, and the recipient will be overcome with that sin for the
next half hour, while the others will experience the most euphoric
feeling they’ve ever experienced from a shot of alcohol.” I
motioned for the men to pick up a glass, and Mister Flirtatious had
one more wink for me.

“Gentlemen,
take your shot of sin!” They took their shots to the head. When
they slammed their glasses down, every eye in the room was on them.
After about twenty seconds, one of the men—not Winky—suddenly
gasped, whipped his head around, and bolted from among his friends to
accost a mildly attractive woman standing nearby.

“Fuck
me! Fuck me, please!” He shook her by the upper arms while she
stared at him, mortified, as his friends tried to pry him off her. I
brayed with laughter, as did Xiune and everyone else in the bar.

“Oh
god, I’m so horny. Someone please, fuck me!” He struggled against
his laughing friends, trying to reach any female in sight, with his
erection leading the way. Lust had been the winner tonight, and for
the next thirty minutes this poor sap would be lusting after every
woman he saw, whether she was twenty-eight or eighty-two. He even
lurched toward Xiune, but she floated out of the way. Xiune was one
sexy head in a box and had a mouth she could work wonders with. She
often came out of her box to work those wonders on any willing man.
There were more than you’d think.

“Right
sin, wrong guy, right?” brown-haired dude said to me.

I
rolled my eyes. “You and your friends will have your hands full for
the next half hour. I suggest you hold on to him real good and don’t
be surprised if he turns to one of you when it starts to look like he
won’t be getting any women.”

He
laughed and pulled out his cell phone. “I’ll call his girlfriend,
though she’ll probably be too pissed at him for doing this to
alleviate his lust.” He left the bar to make the call, while the
other five continued to hold on to their friend, laughing like they’d
never experienced anything so hilarious in their lives. Some of the
more mischievous or drunk women teased the guy by parading in front
of him and doing dirty little stripper moves. Only his friends’
hold stopped him from tackling one of them and trying to rip her
clothes off.

I
wasn’t afraid of things getting out of hand because I could break
the spell any time I wanted. There was always a point where things
stopped being amusing and started getting annoying. I left them and
headed back behind the bar, while Xiune found another table of people
to entertain. She was a wonderful songstress, and soon her melodic
voice filled the bar as I went back to making magicked drinks. I
glanced at my watch, noting that it was almost midnight, which meant
the day was almost over. That didn’t actually mean anything though.
The day passing didn’t mean I would forget the curse that was
hanging over my life.

“Hey,
Malachi, can you pass me a knife?”

“Knave?”
I quickly turned to the busboy, James, who was bent over a box behind
the bar.

“No,
I said knife,” he said. My throat was suddenly tight, but I reached
under the bar, got a knife, and handed it to him. I stood back and
ran my hands through my short black curls, blowing out a slow breath
as I tried to rein in my reaction to thinking I had heard the name
Knave. That was the name attached to the face I did not like to think
about, but no amount of alcohol and rowdy college boys taking the
Challenge could truly put him from my mind. I didn’t want to see
Knave’s face, didn’t want to think about the hard muscles my
hands used to slide over, following the planes of his body to his
waist and not stopping until I touched something that arched his back
and made him whisper my name. I didn’t want to think about the
nights we’d spent wrapped in each other’s arms, feeling our
hearts beating against each other. But of course, since his name
crossed my lips, he was all I could think about.

Falling
in love with Knave was why I was cursed. And I could only blame
myself. I should have known better than to take someone else’s
lover to my bed. Especially if the woman crossed was a witch queen
who was powerful, sadistic, and known to curse people just for
sneezing out of place.

“Malachi?
Excuse me, Malachi?” I blinked and brought myself out of my
thoughts, turning to see that one of the other busboys, Dan, was
trying to get my attention. He held a box of empty liquor bottles and
needed me to move so he could pass. I shuffled out of the way, but
thinking of Knave and my curse, along with all the beer and shots I’d
drunk tonight, made me feel slightly unstable. Suddenly, the
rowdiness in my bar wasn’t fun; it was obnoxious, and I wanted to
get away from it. I headed through the door Dan had passed through,
into the hallway that led to my office and the Dumpster out back.
Halfway down the hallway, I heard a crash, followed by a scream. I
ran through the back door, taking in several things at once that left
me rooted to the spot. One, the revolting stench that went far beyond
what our single Dumpster could give off. Two, Dan standing rigidly a
few feet away with broken bottles scattered at his feet. And three,
the thing that had caused him to drop the bottles and scream. Behind
the Dumpster was a dead body.